Cuomo Says New York Appears on ‘Other Side’ as Deaths Drop Again

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Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that New York appeared to be “on the other side” of the coronavirus outbreak, reporting another drop in deaths to 507 and highlighting other positive trends.

“If this trend holds we are past the high point,” he told reporters at a briefing on Long Island. “Whether or not the descent continues depends on what we do. But right now we are on a descent.”

The new death count was the lowest since April 6, after the state weathered almost two weeks of fatalities between 606 and 799, on April 9. In a notably upbeat briefing, Cuomo showed the curve of total hospitalizations on steady downward trend. He said that intubations onto ventilators continue to drop.

32,491 in U.S.Most new cases today

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Total new hospitalizations dropped dramatically from just over 1,915 on Saturday to 1,384 on Sunday. But he said that remained a high number that continues to stretch the state’s medical system. He said he also remains concerned about outbreaks in nursing homes.

“It’s no time to get cocky and it’s no time to get arrogant,” he said. “We still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do.”

Testing, Tracing

The setting for Sunday’s briefing reflected the better news -- and apparently a better and expansive mood from Cuomo, who went so far to talk about his daughter’s boyfriend. Rather than speak from the capital in Albany, he visited Northwell Heath on Long Island to thank health care workers to guiding the state through the crisis.

“The long and the short of it is, thank you to all New Yorkers for all the good work, to our health care workers, a special thank you to the police to fire to the transit workers,” he said.

“We thank them from the bottom of our hearts but we also know we have more to do.”

He continued to say the state needed to ramp up testing and tracing -- and again asked for help from the federal government to do so. Testing has become a central point of prickly relations between President Donald Trump and Cuomo, who strongly criticized the president in public on Friday. He pointedly declined to criticize Trump on Sunday.

Expanded testing is a condition for reopening and the federal government has in important role, he said. The state remains shut at least until mid-May.

“We have to stay smart and we have to stay united,” he said. “Now is no time, as I said, to get arrogant.”

— With assistance by Max Reyes

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